Radio in the Flemish Community

This article covers the radio landscape in Flanders and Brussels, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium known as the Flemish Community.

FM radio

The early years

The legal framework for FM radio was introduced in 1930 when the Belgian government granted itself the state monopoly on radio broadcasting. By the law of June 18, 1930, the bilingual state broadcaster Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio Omroep (NIR) was founded. Broadcasts were initiated on February 1, 1931. Later, the state broadcaster would be split into a Dutch-language broadcaster (currently known as VRT) and a French-language broadcaster (currently known as RTBF).

Public radio

In its current form, Flanders' public broadcaster is funded by a combination of taxpayer money and advertising. The following VRT stations broadcast over FM radio, covering pretty much the entire Flemish community:

All FM stations from the VRT except Klara broadcast commercials. In addition, the VRT also has some digital radio stations that are broadcast online and over DAB. The line-up has changed over the years, but every station is automated and commercial-free. Current lineup:

  • MNM Hits: a non-stop version of MNM
  • Ketnet Radio: a hit radio station targeting children
  • VRT Nieuws: a non-stop loop of the latest Radio 1 news bulletin, updated every hour

Private radio

For decades, private entities weren't legally allowed to operate radio stations in Flanders. Today, three types of radio stations are recognized by the Flemish broadcasting regulator: national, regional, local and other.[1]

National broadcasters

The following radio stations currently have "national" coverage status, meaning their coverage area spans the entire Flemish Community.[2]

Station name Format Owner Start
Qmusic Contemporary hit radio MEDIALAAN November 12th, 2001
JOE Adult contemporary MEDIALAAN 2001 (initially as 4fm)
Nostalgie Adult contemporary (special focus on the 1980s) Corelio and Concentra March 20, 2008

The frequencies for Nostalgie were originally zoned for regional use. In March 2008, Antwerpen 1, Radio Go, Radio Mango and Radio Contact Vlaanderen jointly started broadcasting Nostalgie on their frequencies. On March 8, 2010 the station took over some of the frequencies of EXQI FM in Limburg. This effectively created a new national broadcaster.

Local broadcasters

Despite a significant amount of locally zoned FM frequencies, many local broadcast organizations choose to work together to form a network. Such franchises are known as ketenradio's (or "chain" radio stations). The individual frequencies of a radio network usually broadcast exactly the same output, save for localized commercials and the occasional mandatory regional news bulletin. Examples of networked radio stations include:

  • Family Radio (Dutch music; no relation to the religious radio network)
  • Hit FM
  • Radio FG
  • Radio Maria (catholic radio)
  • TOPradio (dance)
  • VBRO (Dutch music)

Independent local stations also exist, but aren't as widespread. Examples include:

References
  1. "Veelgestelde vragen over radio". Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  2. "Particuliere radio-omroeporganisaties: landelijke radio-omroeporganisaties". Retrieved 2016-10-01.
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